An elderly DeKalb County man, who family members say suffered from Dementia/Alzheimer disease, was found dead Friday night about a quarter of a mile from his home.
80 year old Charles E. Lefler, who lived alone at 224 Cooper Lane off of Holmes Creek Road, apparently had not been heard from since Monday night. His meds tray at home indicated that the last time he took his medications was sometime Tuesday.
He was reported missing Friday evening and members of the sheriff’s department, rescue squad, county fire department, and TWRA began searching for him.
Sheriff Patrick Ray said reverse 911 calls were placed from central dispatch to residents in the area near Lefler’s home asking them to keep an eye out for him. After receiving the call, a resident on Shady Place off Holmes Creek Road went looking and found Lefler’s body on his property around 9:30 p.m. According to Sheriff Ray, Lefler was fully clothed when found but it appeared he had been dead for some time. No foul play is suspected but an autopsy will be performed.

A proposed construction project to build eight “safe rooms” in a classroom addition at DeKalb West School qualifies for federal funding under the FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, according to an architect for Kaatz, Binkley, Jones & Morris Architects of Mount Juliet.

Alan Troy of KBJM Architects, Inc. updated the Director of Schools and members of the Board of Education on the project during Thursday night’s regular monthly meeting. “DeKalb West is eligible for the FEMA Hazard grant. There were a couple of requirements for that which are being taken care of. It is eligible for the grant but one of the requirements is that there needs to be a FEMA approved Hazard Mitigation Plan which you do not have. But I understand that someone with the Tennessee Emergency Management Association and those representatives have set up a meeting with the county to get that plan and to get it approved. The other requirement is that the county participate in the National Flood Insurance Program and its been confirmed that this county does participate in that so it meets the requirements,” said Troy.
Millions of dollars are available to eligible applicants under the FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program for building safe rooms to withstand winds in the event of a tornado. In this case, not only would the new safe rooms provide a place for students and school staff to take shelter in the event of a tornado, it would also ease overcrowding at the school by providing more classroom space.
During a special called meeting in December, the Board of Education voted to pay KBJM Architects, Inc. a total of $7,500 to prepare a design for the project and to pay Lashlee-Rich, Inc. of Humbolt $7,500 to prepare cost estimates and for the grant writing.
Under this FEMA grant program, the school system could apply for up to three million dollars for this project with the federal government paying 75% of the cost, if approved. The state would pay 12.5% leaving the local share at 12.5%. Any further costs related to construction not covered by the FEMA grant, including furnishing classrooms, would be funded locally.
School officials had hoped to include construction of a new kitchen/cafeteria area for DeKalb West under this FEMA grant program, but Troy said that aspect of the plan will not qualify. “The design team met with the grant writer on January 5 to discuss the addition. There are some changes in the way the project will be approach. The plan was initially to include the kitchen and cafeteria work but its based on the area that this (construction project) will serve. You won’t be eligible to include that much area (in this grant application). The kitchen and cafeteria will be standard construction but the classroom addition will be designed to meet the FEMA guidelines,” said Troy
According to Troy, a specific budget for this project is not yet available, but it compares to a similar project at another school district. “A proposed budget has been submitted. Its not specific to this project but its similar in a possible dollar amount and what’s eligible. In short, this project was a total preliminary construction budget of just over two million dollars and the net cost to the school district with the FEMA grant was $688,000,” said Troy.
Director Willoughby said he is hopeful the kitchen concerns at DeKalb West can still be addressed and that any new cafeteria can be built under FEMA guidelines to make it a safe room for the community during severe weather. “We really need a cafeteria/lunchroom expansion down there. We really need it badly. We surveyed a half mile radius of the school and because of the fact that the population is not very dense within a half mile radius of that school, that’s one of the reasons that it doesn’t qualify for us to do the cafeteria in this grant. Because this is FEMA and it (safe rooms) would be used in case of emergencies, the complete school (students and staff) could go in those eight classrooms that we’re hoping to build for tornado drills, tornadoes, and things like that. Those eight rooms would take care of faculty, staff, students, and everybody in the school. They would have a safe place to be. We were hoping we could get the cafeteria and the kitchen in with this (grant application) if the population had been high enough there. That way we could have also opened it (cafeteria safe room) to the community if we had an emergency situation. If we included the cafeteria in with this grant, since the population around that school is not very dense, it would decrease our chances of getting any of that grant. I would suggest that if or when we do the cafeteria and lunchroom that we build it to FEMA specifications and still have it for the community to come in. It wouldn’t be a lot more expensive. But as far as being able to build the cafeteria at this time with FEMA money, that is probably not going to be in the package,” said Willoughby.
Asked why DeKalb West School was considered first for the project, over the other schools, Willoughby said DeKalb West would be the most likely school to qualify for the FEMA grant, but he added that the other schools in the county could be considered in future proposals if grant funds are still available. “If these grants continue, we will be looking toward doing this at other places. But because of the population of that school, with a little bit over 400 students and the eight classrooms that it would take care of, it could get everyone in that school. So I think that’s probably going to be a plus factor (in the grant evaluation process). Plus, it would take us longer (from Smithville) to get to that area (DeKalb West School) in an emergency situation.
DeKalb West has a student enrollment of around 450 students.
The deadline for submitting the grant application is March 1st.
The board of education has scheduled a workshop for Saturday, February 18 at 9:00 a.m. to meet with the architects to discuss the project further.

The DeKalb County Board of Education formally adopted the school calendar for the 2012-2013 year Thursday night.
Registration for all students will be Thursday, August 2. That will be an abbreviated school day from 7:30 a.m. until 9:30 a.m.
Friday, August 3 will be an administrative day for teachers only
The first full day of school for all students will be Monday, August 6
Professional development is scheduled for two days in June/July (on your own)
A system wide professional development day will be Monday, July 30 at DCHS from 8:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.
All teachers will report to their individual schools on Tuesday and Wednesday, July 31 and August 1 from 8:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.
Students will not attend on Monday, Labor Day, September 3.
Schools will be closed for the fall break October 15-26
Students will be off for the Thanksgiving holiday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, November 21, 22, & 23 and for the winter break December 20 through January 1. Wednesday, December 19 will be the last day students attend before winter break and that will be an abbreviated school day. Students will return after the holidays on Thursday, January 3.
Schools will be closed for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Monday, January 21 and for President’s Day, Monday, February 18.
Schools will be closed for spring break March 25-29
Students will not attend on Thursday, May 23. That will be an administrative day and all teachers must attend. The last day of school will be Friday, May 24. That will be an abbreviated school day and report cards will be sent home.
Parent-Teacher Conferences will be held on Tuesday, October 9 and Tuesday, March 12 at DeKalb County High School from 3:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m.
Parent-Teacher Conferences will also be held from 3:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. Thursday, October 11 and Thursday, March 14 at DeKalb Middle School, Northside Elementary, Smithville Elementary, and DeKalb West School.
DCHS report cards will be sent home on Monday, October 8 and at all other schools on Tuesday, October 9. Report cards to be sent home from all schools on Tuesday, January 8. DCHS report cards to be sent home Monday, March 11 and at all other schools Tuesday, March 12.
AYP-EOC/Gateway Testing at DCHS will be Tuesday through Thursday, December 4-6 and May 7-9 and a make-up AYP-EOC/Gateway Test will be Friday, December 7 and May 10.
ACT Test for the 11th grade will be Tuesday, March 19
Writing Assessment for the 5th, 8th, and 11th grades will be Tuesday, February 5. Writing Assessment make-up will be Wednesday, February 6.
TCAP testing of elementary students will be April 22 through May 3
(Stockpile Days) Professional Development/Instructional Days will be held for all teachers and all paraprofessionals from 8:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. on Friday, October 12 and Wednesday, January 2. Students will not attend on those days.
In other business, Director of Schools Mark Willoughby gave his monthly report on personnel.
The following were employed:
Rhonda Pilgram as a full time cafeteria worker
Brenda Bandy as a Special Education Assistant at Smithville Elementary School
Carol Swope as a Special Education Assistant at DCHS
Michael Kingsbury, school bus driver has resigned
Audrey Russell, Speech Language teacher, has been granted a leave of absence as requested.
The school board also adopted a resolution of appreciation honoring food service personnel.
The resolution states that “Whereas, food service employees are responsible for providing healthy and delicious meals for the students and staff each day; and
Whereas, food service employees dedicate themselves to arriving early to the school to prepare breakfast and lunch; and
Whereas, food service employees provide smiles and encouragement to the students and staff of their school, and
Whereas, the Board of Education and the Superintendent of DeKalb County Schools, view the work of the food service staff extremely important to the success of the school;
Now Therefore, Be It Resolved that this Board acknowledges and expresses its appreciation to each food service staff member in our school district; and
Be It Further Resolved that January 19, 2012 is hereby established as Food Service Staff Appreciation Day in all DeKalb County schools.
Be It Further Resolved that the Board encourages each principal, each school and each community to participate in the celebration of these important school employees.”

Incumbent fifth district school board member W.J. (Dub) Evins, III has picked up a petition to seek re-election in the August DeKalb County General Election.
Evins apparently will have an opponent.
Kevin D. Hale of Dearman Street also plans to seek election to the school board seat in the fifth district
Petitions for the fifth and sixth district school board races can now be picked up at the DeKalb County Election Commission office.
School board members, who run as non-partisan candidates, are elected in even-numbered years in August with the membership being staggered. In August 2012, members in Districts 5 and 6 are to be elected. The qualifying deadline for this election is NOON, April 5.

Food Lion is closing twenty five “underperforming” stores in Tennessee, but the Smithville store will remain open.
According to a news release, underperforming Food Lion stores will be shut down in a total of nine states including Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia, “primarily in markets in which the company has the least store density”.
Food Lion stores in Tennessee which will be closing are located in Athens, six stores in Chattanooga, Cleveland, Hixson, Clinton, Crossville, Knoxville, Maryville, Morristown, Sevierville, Clarksville, Hendersonville, Lewisburg, two stores in Murfreesboro, Old Hickory, Smyrna, Sparta, Greeneville, and Johnson City.
All affected stores will close within 30 days.
“Food Lion is focused on repositioning our business for future growth,” said Cathy Green Burns, president of Food Lion. “By closing underperforming stores, we will continue to position Food Lion for success, especially in light of our brand strategy results. We are very pleased with the reaction from our customers on the implementation of our new brand strategy work, which includes being recognized as a price leader, making our stores easier to shop, offering the greatest value in private brands and providing fresh produce. However, we also determined the most successful markets for these investments are areas where we have strong store density or high market share. As we move forward with implementing our strategy this year, Food Lion will launch its next market this quarter and expects to be substantially complete by year-end. We look forward to accelerating the Food Lion strategy and bringing the strategy to life in an additional 600 to 700 stores.”
Food Lion’s parent company is Delhaize America.
Delhaize America is a leading supermarket operator with more than 1,600 stores in 16 states in the eastern United States. Delhaize America operates under the banners Bottom Dollar Food, Food Lion, Harveys, Hannaford Supermarkets, Reid’s and Sweetbay, each of which has a distinct strategy and a well-established brand image. Through its multiple banners, Delhaize America is able to target the needs and requirements of specific markets, customize its product and service offerings and maintain strong brand recognition with its local customers. Delhaize America employs approximately 107,000 full-time and part-time associates.

Smithville volunteer firefighters have long wanted an aerial (ladder) truck and for the last few days they’ve had one. While its only a demo model and doesn’t belong to the city, Fire Chief Charlie Parker told WJLE that it’s the kind of truck Smithville really needs.
City firefighters gave the truck a test run on Saturday, setting up at various places in town where such a vehicle could best be used and extending the 75 foot ladder to reach taller buildings and hard to get to structures and roof tops. Firefighters took the truck out again Tuesday night to Northside Elementary School
Chief Parker said the demo truck will be leaving town this week but he is hopeful that a grant, for which the city has applied, will be awarded soon so that the city could get financial assistance to purchase an aerial truck for the fire department to serve the citizens of Smithville. “It’s a demo truck that’s actually passing through from EVS Mid South Company. Its passing through Tennessee so we managed to get it for a few days here in Smithville. We’ve been trying it out at different places around the city to see how it will best fit our needs. We’ve been trying to purchase a ladder truck for a while. We’ve got a Firefighters Assistance Grant that we’ve applied for. We did a study last spring. We’ve looked at two or three different sizes of trucks but we’ve determined that a 75 foot aerial device best suits our needs. Its not going to fit on 100% of the calls but we feel that with the population in the city and the number of firefighters we have to utilize, we believe it will be a best fit for us on residential and commercial fires. We have a lot more residential fires than commercial but this size truck will fit with one story and two story houses. A 75 foot ladder will give us a pretty good reach. It also has a 1,750 gallon per minute pump on it so we’ve got a pretty good amount of water supply for a fire. This particular truck has a 1,500 hundred gallon a minute nozzle on it which can be remotely operated from the base of the truck so you don’t have to put a firefighter in danger. It provides a pretty good amount of water in an elevated stream so we can get it up to a two story house or the roof area when you really need water up high. The demo price on this truck is around $680,000 on a brand new truck. The grant process is underway. They’ve been awarding grants since December. They award them periodically until the grant money runs out. We have applied for a grant to buy a truck and for some additional equipment. We’re hoping to hear something any time,” said Chief Parker.
“I do want to say thanks to Wink Brown and EVS Mid South for allowing us to use the demo truck for a day or two. I know they’re trying to sell trucks but its been a big asset to our department to let our city council see the truck up close and the capabilities and safety benefits of this truck so we just want to express our appreciation to them for allowing us to bring it to town for a few days,” said Chief Parker.
Last June, the aldermen voted to hire a grant writer to seek a federal matching grant for the purchase of a ladder truck. If approved, the city would have to match five percent of the cost.